Ignition apparatus



L. M. WOLFFSOHN (NOW BY JUDICIAL CHANGE OF NAME L'. M. WO0LSON)..

lGNlTlON APPARATUS.

APISLICATION FILED NOV. 16,,19I6. .1,430,870.-. I Patented Oct. 3, 1922.

2 SHEETSSHEEI I.

INVENTOR L. M. WOLFFSOHN (NOW-BY JUDICIAL CHANGE OF NAME L; M. WOOLSONL IGNITION APPARATUS APPLICATION FILED NOV. 15, 1916.

Patented Oct. 3, 19 22.

'2 suz'ns susu 2.

' VENTOR x v I I 5% ix m H ATTm Ng Y l Patented Oct. 3, 1922.

UNITED stares PATENT OFFHZEL.

LIONEL M. WOLFF$OHN (NOW BY JUDICXAL CHANGE NAME LIONEL M. WOOLElONL,

OF HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO IBIJUR MOTOR APPLIANCE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELA'W'ARE.

IGNITION APPARATUS.

Application filed November 16, 1916. Serial No. 131,748.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known thatLLioNnL M. WoLrrsoHN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of l-Iobolren, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented an inn provement in ignition Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to ignition apparatus for internal combustion engines and has for one of its objects to provide such ignition apparatus of simple construction and efiicient action. Another object of my in vention is to provide, in apparatus of the above type, accurately acting means whereby the electrical impulses are properly distributed.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drwings, wherein areshown some of various possible embodiments of the several features of this invention:.

Figure 1 is a sectional view along the line 1-1 of Figure 2, the cover for the interrupter contacts being shown removed.

Figure 2 is a top view of the enclosed construction, the cover for the interrupter contacts being removed, and part of the cover plate being broken away to show the interior construction.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 33 of Figure 2, parts of the in terior construction being cut away.

Figure 4 is a rear elevation of the interrupter.

Figure 5 is a top view partly cutaway of the distributor.

Figure 6 is a side view partly in section of the manual spark adjusting means.

Figure 7 is a broken perspective view of the cam shaft.

Figure 8 is an enlarged view of a detail appearing in Figures 1 and Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the diiferent views of the drawings.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

there is shown an enclosing casting 1, havingcavities 4:2 and 5 respectlvely for supwith respect to each other, as shown in wl igure 1, so that each depression of one cam is disposed half-way between adjoining irregularities of the other.

It 18 of course obvious thatcams with a different number of irregularities may be used, depending on the number of cylinders of the engine, that irregularities of shapes other than described above may be used to advantage and that the cams might be made of separate pieces secured to the shaft, but there are certain distinctively desirable properties inherent in the specific construction set forth.

Extending through registering openings in the cover plate 4t and a supporting member I 18 secured thereto, there are two bushings 10 having bifurcated lower ends 78 and a tappet rod 7 passes through each said bushing. Each tappet is provided with an integral semi-cylindrical part 63 at one end extending transversely thereof and fitting in said bifurcated bushing ends with its ends projecting beyond the periphery of said bifur- 'cated portion and capable of effective cooperation with the depressions in the cams.

A coil spring '11 is disposed around each tappet rod between the bushing, and a metal, washer 64E rests on those parts of element 68 extending beyond'the bifurcated end.

Rigidly secured to ascrew-threaded end 65 of each of the tappet rods by means of nuts 66 and 67, there is a metal bar 14-, having secured thereon near one end an elec .trical contact 16. Fixed contacts 17 co-operate with the movable contactsand are sebinding post 68 for connection with one end of a primary coil, thusconnccting the interrupter contacts in parallel. in upstanding metallic frame 69 secured to supporting member 18 has two notches '70 at its upper edge in which the non-contact bearing ends of bars 1% are lodged, for effectively preventing n'iovement of contacts 16 out of register with contacts 1'? by rotation of the bars about their respective tappets. Secured to the rear of the frame 69 by rivets '52 is a backing plate 71. The rivets pass through an elongated slot 73 in a manual contact separator 74:, which is thus licably maintained between frame and backing plate 71. At the upper edge of member 74 be tween bars l l there is a camming projection having symmetrically disposed inclined surfaces for permitting a ready yet positive shifting of one or the other contact 16 away from its co-operating fixed contact, depending on the direction in which the contact separator T l is shifted. A cover 26 en closes the parts mounted on supporting member 18, and is secured to cover plate f by any desired means. The specific means shown being no part of my invention and being old and well-known is not described.

Proceeding now to the distributor, the same consists of a housing of insulating material, such as bakelite, having a base member 28, bolted, or otherwise rigidly secured to housing 1, and member 29 which I designate a top base. These members are provided with circular ledges whereby a cylindrical chamber 30 is formed. Equidistantly arranged near the peripheries of each base of the cylindrical chamber, there are six countersunk contacts l0, the contacts of the top base being displaced at an angle of 30 with respect to those at the bottom, as clearly shown in Figure 5. Of course a dif ferent number of contacts would be used for an engine with more or with less than 12 cylinders, but there are special advantages inherent in the specific construction described and shown. Keyed to shaft 3 which extends through a central opening in base 28, there is a rotary insulating arm 81. This arm carried a conducting piece 82, extending from substantially its center to a contact 33 near its free end. Contact 33 has two contacting surfaces, one. for co-operating with the contacts on each base. The two surfaces are biased outwardly by spring 34, and have their outward movement limited not only by the bases but by inturned flanges on the arm 8i. The usual terminal 36 is in direct electrical connection with the end of conducting piece 32 remote from contact Th arm is so keyed on the shaft that contact is madethereby with a contact l0, when one of the timer contacts is interrupted. The cover of the distributor housing may be locked to its base by means of sheet metal straps 37 hingedly secured to the base member, and having their free ends bent over the top of the cover member. Seals 38 may be used to prevent movement of strap 37, shown in Figure 1.

Each of the contacts 40 is electrically conected with a terminal on its housing element. The terminals of one housing element are all arranged on one side of a diametrical plane through the chamber 30, and those on the other housing element are all disposed on the other side of said diametrical plane, as clearly zlpPQtllS from Figures 2, 3 and This arrangement, as is obvious, facilitates connection with tie spark plugs.

Secured to the shaft near the end remote from the distributor is a gear 39, the construction and operation of which will be described below. To save material and space, cover plate l is cut away as shown, forming an opening so that the gear may rotate in the cut-away portion. Supporting member 18 as shown, closes this opening and thus separates the gear from the timer contact chamber.

Co-operating with gear is a gear 43 which is non-rotatably attached by pin L5 to a sleeve a l, which sleeve encloses driving shaft 2, and is slidable thereon. Shaft 2, as shown, is rotatably supported preferably in ball bearings 76 and 77. Gear L3 has spiral teeth out with a large angle, and co-operating with spiral teeth on gear 39, cut with a small angle. It is thus obvious that gear 39 may be turned either by rotation of gear 43, or by translational movement thereof on shaft 2. The pin 45 passes through elongated slots in shaft 2 and in sleeve 44:, the slot in the sleeve being shorter than that in the shaft, and it is connected by link 46 with one edge of the base 4-7 of a centrifugal spark adjuster, having heavy, preferably, lead weights l-S rigidly secured at the ends of said base 4:7 and being rotatable as a unit with a pin 49 passing through an elongated slot in shaft 2 and in sleeve 44. Each weight is cut away as shown in the drawing, so that it may closely embrace sleeve i l when the spark is retarded to maxi mum extent as shown in 3. At high speeds, the axis of the weight coincides with that of shaft 2, the inner weight surface embracing said shaft. Another link 50 has one end pivoted in the opposite edge of the base in a position centrally symmetrical with respect to the point of pivot of link -16. Link 50 is secured at its opposite end to a collar 51, which collar is slidable on sleeve a l. Slidably mounted near the end of shaft 2 remote from gear 43 is a second collar 52, one end of which is telescopically secured to the sleeve M. A coil spring 53 surrounds the sleeve and presses against collars 51 and 52. The latter collar has two circumferential flanges as shown in Figure 3, between which two studs 55 are lodged. When collar 52 is in bodiment of this invention is substantially as follows :The engine being assumed to be in operation, drive shaft 2 transmits its rotary movement through gear 43 to gear 39, thus driving the driven shaft. The cams 6 being rigid with the driven shaft and an gularly displaced'with respect to each other,

will cause tappet rods '7 to be alternately raised, thus alternately bodily raising metal pieces 14 and separating contacts 16 from contacts 17. Coil springs 11 will depress the tappet rods when the enlarged portion of the cam is no longer in contact therewith. It is seen from the proportions and relations of the cams that when either interrupter is about to open, the other is on its closing stroke so that both interrupters are open for an instant twelve times during each revolution of driven shaft 3. If one and the same interrupter were relied upon to successively make and to break the circuit, it is clear the intervals during which the primary circuit is interrupted would be longer in duration leaving less time for the coil to build up, resulting in a weaker spark than in my construction. A further incident of this arrangement is that each interrupter contact will suffer only one-half as much from sparking as if only one interrupter were used, so that replacement need not be made as frequently.

The distributor arm 31 also rotates with the driven shaft, and as is obvious from the construction, the two surfaces of the contact 33, contact alternately, first one With a contact 4:0 on one base, then the other with a contact 10 on the other base. It is thus seen that the distance between contacts is as great as if only half as many contacts were mountedon one base, and this result is obtained without increasingthe diameter of the distributor.

As the engine speeds up, weights 4E8 fly outwardly somewhat as in the ordinary cen trifugal governor. This causes links 16 and 50 to assume a position more nearly parallel with the shaft 2. Therefore collar 51 is urged downwardly, compressing spring 53, and pin 45 is urged upwardly within its slots in the shaft and in the sleeve. When the pin reaches the end of the sleeve slot it will carry with it sleeve 44. The longitudinal movement of spiral gear 13 as is obvious.

causes a rotation of gear 39 and with it shaft 3, independent. of rotation of shaft 2. Thus, spark advance is effected automatically, and the faster the engine the greater the advance. Then the engine slows down the centrifugal force is diminished, and spring 53 overcoming this force pushes the centrifugally operatingmember toward the position shownin Figure 3, when link 46 will'retract pin 45 and after moving it to the lower end of the slot in sleeve 44. will retract said sleeve with its attached gear13 thus again retarding theignition. The amount-of retardation will, as-is obvious, depend on the slackening of the engine speed. Y

The mode of operation of the manual spark adjustment is obvious; When arm 5? is operated, shaft 59 transmits the turn-' ing movement to yoke 56, and studs 55 will,

therefore, cause collar 52 to push sleeve 44,

and with it geard-Z along shaft 2, thus effecting spark advance in an analogous manner as above described in connection with the automatic advance. Stop 58, 'co-operating with yoke 56,confines the amount of possible manual adjustment within proper limits.

It is obvious that the arrangement of gear teeth out at a, large angle on one and at a small angle on the other gear, results in an extremely delicate adjustment.

The above described means for controlling the time of spark forms the subject-matter of my copending application, Serial No. 318,766, filed August 20, 1919, which is a division of this application.

As many changes could be made in the above construction, and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings should be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a distributor, in combination, a plurality of coaxial members, a plurality of insulated contacts on each of said members, the contacts of each member being equidistant from the axis and equidistant from each other, the contacts on the various members being out of alignment, and a switching member having a contact surface for each said member, whereby a rotation of said arm and said members relative to each other will cause contacts to be made and broken one at a time. a j

2. In a distributor, in combination, two coaxial members, an equal number of insulated. contacts 011 each of said members,

having aligned contact surfaces, one co-operating with each member.

3. In a distributor, in combination, two coaxial members spaced from each other, six insulated contacts on each of said mem here, said contacts being located at the ver tices of regular hexagons of equal dimensions, having their centers on the axis, said vertices beingout of alignment with respect to each other, and a coaxial switching arm rotatable between said surfaces and having aligned contact surfaces, one co-operating with each member.

4. In a distributor, in combination, two coaxially mounted circular pads having abutting peripheral ledges, said pads forming a closed chamber, equidistant peripherally disposed contacts at the bases of said chamber, the contacts on one base being out of alignment with those on the other and a rotary switch arm mounted coaxially of said chamber between. said pads, a brush passing transversely of said arm and abutting the enclosed faces of both pads, whereby upon operation of said switch, contact will be made alternately with a contact on each of the pads.

5. A rotary switch member for a distributor, comprising an insulating arm having means near one end fastening it to a r0tatable shaft, a conducting brush fitting in each end of a transverse opening through said arm, spring between said brushes urging them out of said opening, means for limiting said outward movement and a conducting member extending from one of said brushes to substantially the other end. of said arm.

In. testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification this 11th day of November, 1916.

LIONEL M. WVOLFFSOHN. 

